After the helicopter tour we headed into the park and on up through the Going to the Sun Road. By visiting the park at this time of year we avoid the large number of visitors and associated traffic tie-ups that I understand is common during the peak summer months. The trade-off is that the weather is less accommodating. Luckily for us most of the heavy cloud cover and fog had dissipated by the time we headed out.
Obviously compared to the helicopter viewpoints, there's a difference in the perspective at ground level. You get a different appreciation of the majestic landscapes when you see the relationship between the towering mountains and the surrounding panoramas that frame them.
At ground level the distant peaks and landscapes were often obscured by a bluish haze. Once again shooting in RAW and judicious post-processing helped minimize the haziness.
As beautiful as the scenery was, Wendy was on a mission to see Mountain Goats. For some reason she has always been drawn to them. Of course, I'm always on the lookout for opportunities to capture wildlife in their natural habitats.
We had heard from other visitors and park rangers that the Hidden Lake Overlook above the Logan Pass Visitor's Center was a prime spot to find animals especially Mountain Goats. The brochures said that the hike to the overlook was a mile and half hike with a 500 foot rise. That's probably a no-brainer for experienced hikers but we were (a) flat-landers starting out at 6600 foot elevation, (b) woefully out of shape, and (c) carrying 25-35 pounds of camera equipment. But WTF there might be Mountain Goats up there...so off we went.
Later we both admitted that we were already gasping for breath just walking around the visitor's center. Slowly but steadily we trudged up the side of this seemingly endless and steep slope. It's a humbling experience to be passed by fit people who are 10-15 years older than you are.
At one of our frequent stops we caught a glimpse of something racing across the open ground.
This was one of a small band of Hoary Marmot (Marmota caligata).
As we continued up our rest stops became more frequent and for various reasons. One time is was to catch our breath, another it was to relieve the strain of the shoulder straps from out camera backpacks, and yet another was to regain some strength in our spent legs.
At one point as we came close to what we thought was the final stretch, some headed down said "You're almost half-way there!" Wendy's reaction was classic: "What! Are you kidding me?!?!?" Fortunately for us we were more than half-way but more importantly we were completing the steepest part of the hike.
Then we got our first encouragement by coming across a Mountain Goat that was hidden just off the trail. Wendy couldn't resist and might have gotten slightly off the trail to get a few shots.
I was a few yards further up when someone else pointed out a Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis). This ram stayed quite a ways off the entire time we were up there.
Later we found him again further up the slope taking a little snooze. If we hadn't known he was up there I don't know if we could have picked him out.
Not too much further along we came upon the actual overlook. Set above Hidden Lake the overlook presented a great, er, overlook. But enough with the pretty scenery we wanted to see Mountain Goats.
Someone said they had seen a few goats down slope aways but they had long since disappeared. After the grueling hike up we were determined to wait them out. Soon enough we saw a white speck peek out from some heavy tree cover. As with any animal sightings I try to get a few shots off as soon as possible because that might be the only opportunity. So from about 150 yards away we started to get some clear shots of a couple of adults and a kid.
Here they are playing peek-a-boo.
Unbelievably we watched as they made their way up the slope right towards us. They were so close to us I had to switch to a shorter zoom in order to fit in a full length shot.
Everyone kept a respectful distance and the goats were wary but seemingly relaxed around the people traipsing around their territory.
It was about mid-afternoon and almost all my shots were backlit. I did manage a few shots in open shade as if this goat was posing for his (her?) senior portrait.
But then again maybe he's trying to tell me something here.
At one point there were 2 groups of three Mountain Goats in the area. Each group had what appeared to be a nanny with a kid. We speculated that the third goat in each group was an older kid from each nanny.
We kept hearing a repetitive chirping sound and found this Columbian Ground Squirrel (Urocitellus columbianus) perched on a rock. I guessed it might be trying to draw our attention because someone might be near it's burrow. But then again I'm just making a wild guess based on watching a few nature programs on the Animal Planet channel.
Back to the Mountain Goats...even a goat will stop and smell the roses.
Alright they're not roses and he was actually having a snack but it sounded good for a second.
One final head and shoulders shot for the yearbook.
I would guess we had been at the overlook for two or three hours. It had been sunny but cool with a few high clouds. Suddenly a heavy fog (or low clouds) rolled in. One minute we were in bright sunlight and the next it's socked in and very chilly. This just brought home how easy it would be for unprepared hikers to find themselves in suddenly inhospitable conditions.
We started a mass exodus back down the slope as visibility got worse and worse. Just before we got to the very steep part we came across a small group of Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta). Obviously these birds had become so accustomed to people that they didn't immediately flee from us. These birds were within 10 feet of the path we were on.
We continued on down the slope which thankfully was so much easier than going up. By the time we got back to the visitor center there was less than 15 feet of visibility. I thought this was going to be an interesting drive back down the narrow, twisting road with low visibility and dusk quickly approaching.
To our surprise, we dropped out of the fog relatively quickly and the rest of the drive back down was uneventful.
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